Goliatus Regius wanted

I know its a long shot but was I wondering if anyone in the US has goliatus regius for sale. Larvae would be preferred.

 
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Do you want Goliathus Regius? BIC had some and will come back in stock. Insect Brothers has Goliathus Goliatus if you want more of them. I think Insect Brothers has 'em but they're not in stock. 

 
I don't think live regius is legal yet in the states, I'm only aware of goliatus, ablosignatus and cacicus being deregulated, and I have only seen live goliatus offered

so far. Bugsincyberspace is another Goliathus source, I asked Peter about the other species, and he didn't offer any leads on the 2 remaining species.

 
No, that's one of Goliathus goliatus's many forms.

Goliathus orientalis (the typical form) looks like this - 

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Because the elytral markings can vary so much within each of the Goliathus species, sometimes the more reliable way to identify what species a specimen belongs to is to look for certain details of the pronotal markings.
 

 
I don't think live regius is legal yet in the states, I'm only aware of goliatus, ablosignatus and cacicus being deregulated, and I have only seen live goliatus offered

so far. Bugsincyberspace is another Goliathus source, I asked Peter about the other species, and he didn't offer any leads on the 2 remaining species.
All of the Goliathus species, including regius, are legal in the US.  It's just that G. goliatus is the only one that's become established in the US hobby, as of yet.

 
I didn't know that, I've only read the now 5 year old post  about the 3 that I mentioned. Logically, all Goliathus should be equal, but we're dealing

with regulatory entities.

 
I didn't know that, I've only read the now 5 year old post  about the 3 that I mentioned. Logically, all Goliathus should be equal, but we're dealing

with regulatory entities.
If we are talking about logic, then shouldn’t it make sense to have orb weaver spiders and mantids similarly regulated due to potential hunting of pollinators (this supposed risk is why the USDA regulates mantids)? 

 
I see very little regulation for mantids, there's unlikely to ever be a mantis 'infestation", as well as every insect and spider is also prey for something larger.

The regs are for agriculture,  but it's either somewhat hypocritical, or too little too late., or an incorrect study of a "control" predator that's more likely to cause

a problem.

 
I see very little regulation for mantids, there's unlikely to ever be a mantis 'infestation", as well as every insect and spider is also prey for something larger.

The regs are for agriculture,  but it's either somewhat hypocritical, or too little too late., or an incorrect study of a "control" predator that's more likely to cause

a problem.
Exotic mantids require a full USDA containment facility. As far as I can recall, the insect hobby is not responsible for any invasive species in the US. I want to see most of the regulations removed since Florida and Hawaii, the most vulnerable areas, already have more robust regulatory enforcement than the USDA. 

 
That follows the "logic", but if you look at Ebay, and a number of other websites that sell live insects, exotic mantids are all over the place, with no

mention of any regulations. Certainly, some states with tropical climates could have issues with introduced insects from tropical countries.

While it'd be much simpler to go to Florida and catch some Morphos, or Argema and pick up some Megasoma, our natives have enough problems

with human activities. Hawaii, as far as I know has the lion's share of introduced species, by accident or design. Florida has got to be at least a close 2nd.

 
Nearly all non-native insects (and other animals) are regulated by the federal government. So, if you wanted to import and keep one of the beautiful Orchid Mantis species, that would be illegal to keep as a pet, unless you got a special permit from the USDA. (Orchid mantids aren’t an endangered species.)

Source: https://membracid.wordpress.com/2007/08/30/its-not-illegal-to-keep-a-mantis-as-a-pet-mostly/#:~:text=For the most part%2C keeping,regulated by the federal government.&text=(Orchid mantids aren't an endangered species.)

 
Illegal or not, you can buy them right now from a number of websites, and or Ebay. I just saw listings for several exotics on a popular site.

Basically, nearly all interstate trade in live insects legally requires a permit, even for natives, do most people pay attention to that? No. Only professional sellers

bother with permitting and following the regs. Even then, many are simply under the radar and continue.

For most, it's like a speed limit sign.. more of a suggestion.

 
I agree with most people here. However I wanted to add a couple cents to the conversation about legality vs how heavily regulated a certain group of insects are. This will differ state by state, but overall the biggest issue with exotic insects is the potential to become massive agricultural pests. Though exotic mantids and predatory insects are not very regulated because of the agricultural history of such insects like the Chinese mantids becoming naturalized with no apocalyptic consequences on agriculture or ecology. That is why you often see exotic hemipterans and mantids on ebay. People know that though they may technically be illegal, or at least obscure legalities, they are by in large ignored unless the person working with them also has heavily regulated species in which case it becomes a mark against them. In fact in the US there are many instances where people have called the USDA/APHIS about exotic mantids and hemipterans only to be given extremely vague answers as they themselves seem to be hesitant to give a clear answer.

Now for classic and known disastrous pests like african land snails and phasmids with severe agricultural and even industrial consequences, they are extremely regulated and you can expect a knock on the door if you start advertising them publically, even though umbrella documentation of what is allowed vs not may group these under the same regulations as some of the illegal but unregulated insects mentioned earlier. 

Beetles are in a tricky place. On one hand most experts know that most of the species in the hobby are not direct massive agricultural threats, even though they do pose risk as carriers of several diseases that do affect trees. On the other, historically, foreign beetles HAVE wreaked havoc on the ecology and agriculture in the united states. The Asian longhorn beetle invasion was in recent memory. Because of the diversity of Coleopterans, it is up to chance to decide whether the people of USDA/APHIS classify all beetles as a threat or are willing to go into detail to assess the risk of your own invidividual species. Any beetle that eats wood(dead or alive) are possible carriers of fungal diseases of plants. For this reason, beetles, though we as hobbyists understand may not be disastrous if introduced, are still regulated, and will remain that way until the hobby becomes large enough to persuade the USDA to assess the risk species by species. Thankfully, Goliathus(sp) currently are all legal to keep on the federal level if I am not mistaken.

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Another thing to add on the shipment across state lines, most of the time that will be impossible to regulate especially as native species, as they could have just as easily hitchhiked on a piece of wood or fruit as they could have been sold and shipped. Ebay is another story because of a paper trail, but discrete message boards or even facebook posts with vague wording make it almost impossible to prove. Furthermore, within native species, most will assume that the distribution of the insects are not limited due to physical forces and because of the nature of transportation in the modern era, most of the native species would have been spread to whereever they can thrive unless we are to assume every single mode of possible transportation is checked meticulously for hitchhikers(they are not)

 
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